Monday, June 28, 2010

The Good Stuff - Crystal Light Pure Fitness Post #4

This is sponsored content from BlogHer and Crystal Light Pure Fitness.

***

As a young girl in college, I first began to worry about my weight.

I began to understand that what I ingested in my body could come out in a variety of ways.

As muscle on my arms.As cushioning on my hips.

Or as energy in my voice and day-to-day tasks.

From that point on, life as I knew it would never be the same.

Nor, for that matter, would food.Food had calories, and calories - in my circle of young female friends striving to be thin enough - were the enemy.

It's the reason so many women devolve into eating disorders as they mature and grow. Food and all it's nutrients are not seen as necessary but as excess.Luckily, I'm a big fan of food. Even in my dieting days, I enjoyed it.

So, to cope with my penchant for the basic desire to eat, I ate differently. I indulged in diet sodas; I ate fake butter; I poured fake sweeteners and fat-free half-and-half in my coffee. I tried baking with sugar and fat substitutes. I ate pre-packaged, sugar-free snacks. And one time, my college roommate and I made a pan of fat-free, low-cal brownies that tasted like sand and had an ingredient list that didn't contain a single item that looked like a food-stuff.

We ate the entire thing.

It was a life of eating food that didn't taste like food. And it was also a life of eating food that didn't benefit my body like food should.The no-cal sweeteners caused gas and bloating; the lack of healthy fats in my diet made my joints ache. I was dehydrated; I was lethargic. My skin broke out daily. My energy level was low, and I still craved pizza made with real cheese and ice cream made with real sugar.

And, yes, I was thin.

But I wore the same size pants that I do now.And though my body - with age and exercise - has changed from those days, it's basically the same body.

But with a whole lot more energy and whole lot more fulfillment.

Because slowly, in my 20s, I turned back to eating real food.I baked whole-wheat muffins with natural sweeteners, like honey. I drank coffee with real cream - even if it was less than I used to use of the fake stuff. I cooked with olive oil and, on occasion, a dollop of real butter.

And I watched my bloating, break outs, and lethargy fall away.

It all came from eating in moderation.

I give myself a home-made, healthy version of what I crave when I crave it.I eat popcorn - made on the stove top with safflower oil and yellow corn kernels. I use natural sweeteners to create a simple syrup for my iced tea. I make spaghetti with real meatballs with 100-percent whole wheat pasta.

I let the foods I'm putting in my body work for me. Whole grains bring with them fiber. Oils bring with them healthy fats and omega-3 fatty acids. And natural sweeteners - unlike calorie-free sugar substitutes - bring with them a few calories, but leave behind all the aforementioned side effects.And that is exactly why I signed on to talk to you all this past month about Crystal Light Pure Fitness drink mix. Before I was approached by BlogHer to participate in this review and giveaway, I already drank Crystal Light Pure Fitness.I poured it in my water bottle at the gym, and when I struggled to stay hydrated throughout a work-filled day, I added it my jumbo glass of water, too.

Truth is, I need encouragement to stay hydrated. I've known that about myself for years.

But in the midst of hard work, I never had the time to brew myself a cup of herbal tea and sweeten it with my own mix of honey or simple syrup.

Just like the food I cook with in my kitchen, Crystal Light Pure Fitness boasts a product that is natural, designed to benefit the body's hydration during exercise.

Before I blogged about it, I recommended it to my personal-training clients as a way to help them drink more water in a healthy manner. And their reviews were astounding.Crystal Light Pure Fitness uses natural sweeteners and graces tap water with subtle flavor. It aids hydration but doesn't send me crashing after I guzzle a glass. And it follows the rules I have for myself about what exactly I allow in my body.

As a girl who's sworn off fake sweeteners (almost all of the time - I still indulge in a Diet Coke on the rare occasion) I can promise you, I'm comfortable using this product. I pack it in my husband's lunch box, right next to a sandwich made with real pesto and mozzarella cheese.

Every answer entered below will put your name in the ring for the drawing of a $100 Visa gift card, courtesy of BlogHer and Crystal Light Pure Fitness, taking place at the end of this month.

To find out the official rules of the Crystal Light Pure Fitness Reviews Program, head here. And while you're at it, take a peek at the other bloggers reviewing Crystal Light Pure Fitness at BlogHer.com CLPF exclusive offers page, and enter to win four other additional $100 gift cards, as well as a $1,000 sweepstakes.

29 comments:

This was an eye-opener because I thought Crystal Light Pure Fitness was chock full of fake sugar.

I am always looking for good natural products. Lately I've been finding them on blogs. In the last few days, I've been obsessed with finding things for L because of his new allergies. I'd be lying if I said I didn't let him dip his Fritos in pb&j one day because I didn't know what to give him.

The good news is that I am using goat milk soap in the shower, heading to Trader Joe's this morning to find natural and gluten-free products for us, and trying to increase our water intake.

I incorporate natural products by asking for help from friends...and you came through here! Thanks!

Recently, I switched the snacks in my lunch from 100-calorie cookies to an apple or orange. Instead of white bread we eat whole wheat. I drink very few diet coke, and instead drink water or unsweetened iced tea. I find it really hard to keep up with what's good and what's bad anymore. I just heard last week that apples and oranges have some thing in them that makes your metabolism slow down!? is that true?

I absolutely love Crystal Light! Yum, I've never had this before, so I'm going to have to try it!

Hmm, other things. when I cook rice, I cook 1/2 wheat, 1/2 white. I try to eat only wheat pasta and only eat wheat bread. I'm not really good at cutting back on things that I love, but I figure when it comes to things such as dressings and sour creams, etc... I figure why eat the crap that tastes well, like crap. Instead I go for the regular stuff and just use it in moderation. I definitely think moderation is the key.

I've gotten better, slowly about eating more natural things. I've lived on my own the past couple years, and after living with someone who enjoyed fresh fruits and vegetables as much as I did, it's hard to know how much fresh to buy for one person.

And now, I'm in love with an amazing man who doesn't like the taste of anything juicy. We had a long conversation about it at dinner last night. He's big on textures, so I'm slowly trying to get him to eat more fresh food, not so much of the microwave meals.

It's an uphill battle, but slowly I'm getting to cook more fresh food for him, to show him what real food can and does taste like. We're working on it. :)

Something I have been paying more attention to is beauty products, namely going sulfate-free.

I've eliminated sulfates from my shampoos and body washes, and I've found that my hair is healthier and shinier, and my skin is not nearly as itchy and dry -- though I still slather myself with lotion every time I get out of the shower.

I've also heard that parabens in moisturizers can be bad, so that's my next step.

I have began to look more at the things I'm eating and since it's summer I have really been on a fruit kick. I know they have sugars and all that jazz in them but I figure it's better eating that then processed snacks with all types of chemicals in them.

I joined a farm co-op program, and it has definitely improved my diet because I'm getting so many vegetables. I wouldn't have bought some of them at the store (like kale), but I'm eating them now.ajolly1456 at gmail dot com

Lately I've been craving dessert (I used to not like sweet things at all) every single night, when it was once in a blue moon I'd indulge in ice-cream or a milkshake from one of my favorite local establishments. Clearly that's not okay every night :) I've started to eat Greek Yogurt with berries every night as dessert, and if I need something sweeter - milk with a dab of chocolate syrup (which while sugar, I figure it better than cookies & cream milkshake!)

With every lunch that I pack I try to make sure that we have one or two fruits (from a product store or farm) - apple, grapes, mandarin oranges, pineapples, banana etc.for dinner I like to make sure that we have 1 to 2 veggies like carrots, mushrooms, tomatoes, broccoli, squash, green beans, asparagas or salad.It helps us keep a healthy balance

I love to make smoothies out of ingredients that I buy myself ie half a banana, strawberries, vanilla (real), a little water or skim milk or even a little organic yogurt then LOTS of ice !!! YUM very refreshing